Fürer-Haimendorf's Apa Tani films

Presented below are edited film clips from Professor Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf field trip to the Apa Tani Valley in Arunachal Pradesh, north eastern India. From 1912 to 1944, no exploratory expedition had entered the Subansiri region of the North-East Frontier regions, until Haimendorf, as Special Officer in Subansiri, visited a number of the villages in 1944 and 1945. Haimendorf focussed his ethnographic attentions on the Apa Tani people, who are documented in the footage below. His excellent book The Apa Tanis and their Neighbours (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962) describes his field trip in detail and describes the culture of the peoples of this little-known area.


© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf
Rope-swinging in Hang village during the celebrations of the Mloko festival.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf
Erecting a rope swing in Hang, an Apa Tani village.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf
Village discussions and games in Haja village and beyond.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf
Apa Tani bleeding tubes.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf
A Kalinga supply plane landing and being unloaded by Apa Tani villagers.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf
Betty Haimendorf, Christoph's wife and companion.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf
Village life in Hang and Haja.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf
Agricultural cycles in Apa Tani villages.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf
Sacrifice: Mithan, chickens and pigs.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf
Apa Tani shamans and their rituals.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf
Expedition and house burning.